Video Takes On St. Louis Crime Ranking

The latest effort to fight the perception of high crime in St. Louis is with a video.

Credit (via Flickr/davidsonscott15)

The St. Louis Civic Pride Foundation produced the five-minute video in partnership with the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission.

Its aim is to debunk St. Louis’ consistent ranking among the most dangerous cities in the U.S.

Local politicians, law enforcement officials, and criminologists have argued for years that the data is skewed because of St. Louis city’s relatively small population within the larger metro area.

In the video University of Missouri-St. Louis criminologist Richard Rosenfeld says, "It’s very, very tricky and I think inadvisable to rank cities that differ in this respect, as well as so many others."

Earlier this fall St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson and St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch sent a request to the FBI asking that agency combine the crime statistics for the two jurisdictions.

The video also highlights that crime in St. Louis city has dropped by 46 percent since 2006, according to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.